| before the squall - 1890s |
[Jul. 3rd, 2012|11:54 pm] |
The wind is rising on the sea,The windy white foam-dancers leap;And the sea moans uneasily,And turns to sleep,
and cannot sleep.
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| aeropsia |
[May. 5th, 2009|02:44 am] |
there are moments when i experience something close to optical panic attacks. surges of feverish feelings, too fast to interpret, too overwhelming to analyze. i'll close my eyes and without pause a wall of buzzing claustrophobia slaps down against my closed eyes and i reflexively open them to escape it.
while the intensity of it used to frighten me as a kid, usually happening while i was alone in my bed, i can't help but be curious about it now. why would my brain interpret the darkness of closed lids as the cue for its invitation? i wish i could induce them, be carried off by their ferocity, see where it leads.
writing this reminds me of something else i wasn't even aware was atypical until i described it to someone else some months back. very often, almost nightly, i will have episodes of visual snow when lying in bed in a darkened room. i honestly thought everyone experienced this? for me it most often takes the shape of a pulsating, faintly purple sphere, sometimes moving in on itself and collapsing over and over, slowly, and sometimes moving from one edge of my vision to the other. it feels like a screensaver, and happens whether my eyes are open or not. it follows my focal point, so obviously it's not hallucinatory.
interestingly, my girlfriend experienced the same thing last december, and found it very frightening. it happened while in bed in my apartment on a visit to norway, where i've been going to bed with this lightshow as long as i can remember. |
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| gadgets that solved a problem, part II |
[Jan. 30th, 2009|12:54 pm] |
Part II: S-video to Scart Adapter Signal Black and White on TV
After I got my HP Pavilion dv9700 laptop, I discovered that I couldn't use composite out to connect to my TV anymore. The laptop has S-video out, and will not detect a TV through an S-video to composite adapter. Frustrating and unnecessary. And with my TV (and most TVs I'm likely to try connecting my laptop to) without S-video in, I had to find an adapter that would work.
Most TVs have Scart input, so I aimed for that. Naively I thought a simple S-video to Scart adapter would work, and purchased one. However, what I didn't know was that, while you can buy S-video to Scart adapters in any electronics store, in Europe (and Australia) the two standards are actually sort of incompatible. When connected to a TV, the signal would be black and white, with wavy diagonal lines slowly running the width of the screen like interference. Reading up on the topic more than I ever wanted to, I discovered that most TVs connect to the black and white signal from the scart, ignoring the color one. You know what a scart plug looks like, right? 20 little flat pins... One of those pins has the color (chrominance) signal we want the TV to see. Another one has the black and white (luma) signal that the TV actually connects to.
Solution: You have two options. If you already own a S-video->Scart adapter (which I have to assume you do, otherwise you wouldn't know about the B/W problem), you don't need to spend any more money. Break out the soldering iron. If the TV ignores the color pin, you need to physically connect it to the pin that the TV sees, namely the luma pin, to force the TV to read both these signals at once. You can find a guide to exactly how you need to solder right here. Don't be discouraged if you haven't soldered before, I hadn't either, and borrowed my father's iron. Check out this youtube video for soldering basics. You only need a short length of thin lead to connect pin 20 to pin 15. It's an easy fix and very satisfying. Like you've built something yourself.
The second option is to buy an adapter or cable that is already modified in the way I just described, for example from this website. At least, that's what I assume they've done. Take your pick there of the setup that fits your system the best. It's a little more expensive than the DIY solution, but if you don't have access to a soldering iron this is more convenient.
Complications: When testing my newly soldered cable I got colors, but the inference lines were still flickering slowly across the screen. I tried all manner of settings on my laptop for probably half an hour, before I finally decided to try using my TV's second scart input. Which worked perfectly. For some reason, the AV1 input has interference while AV2 was absolutely crystal clear. Who knows why. But keep it in mind, if your TV has several inputs.
I also found a TV that simply refuses to read the chroma signal despite it being hardwired to the luma pin. I haven't yet found a way to fix this, though one of these days I'll give this alternative method a shot and update this entry if it works. This might also be worth trying for you right off the bat instead of ordering an expensive american cable, as it only requires a short length of thin wire and no soldering iron. It's still connecting the chroma to the luma, only on the S-video end of the adapter rather than on the Scart end. |
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| gadgets that solved a problem, part I |
[Jan. 30th, 2009|11:20 am] |
I've been thinking lately about writing some entries here about ways I've found to solve various technical issues. The internet is good for that sort of thing, and here's my contribution to it.
Part I - The Mains Hiss
Also known as power static or electrical hum, the mains hiss occurs on certain laptops (in my case, an HP Pavilion dv9000 series) and other audio equipment when plugged into the wall. The original source, as far as I've been able to determine, is either simply a noisy power grid or because of what's called a ground loop. Read more about that if you like. It manifests as a high-pitched, staticky whine or hum, constantly in the background of the laptop's sound output, but only when the laptop is connected to a power outlet. It may appear that you can manipulate it, for instance you may be able to hear your mouse movements through the speakers. It also shows up in recordings you try and make, making it not simply an output problem.
The mains hiss is a consequence of how the hardware is configured, if the laptop sound card is too close to the PSU or something like that. It's certainly clear that to avoid noise from the line power, one would need to separate sound from power, more so than the laptop currently manages.
Solution 1: Get a USB soundcard powered by the USB port alone. The one that fixed it all for me was a Behringer U-Control UCA202 USB-Audio interface. It functions as a separate soundcard and is recognized as such by Vista:
The UCA202 had additional benefits beyond simply curing the mains hiss problem, for me. Having phono/RCA input and output, it's great for hooking up to a stereo, or connecting my guitar amplifier to the laptop for recording or playing along with music through headphones. It has a 3.5 mm headphone "monitor" output with a dedicated volume wheel, which is brilliant. Another nice "function" which I appreciate is that if I should accidentally yank the headphone cable out at 2 am, which happens every so often, it won't automatically switch to speakers and wake the whole house up. If there's nothing connected to it, it doesn't emit any sound. The sound quality is of course superb for the $29 or so it costs, so don't worry about that.
Complication: Now, you may have noticed that I said I use the UCA202 to connect my guitar amp to the laptop. Well, since my amp runs on power as well, am I not stuck with mains hiss again only from a different source? Yes, that's true. The same hiss that plagued the laptop shows up through my Line 6 Spider III 15 watt amp, and this time it doesn't help to connect it to a USB soundcard because the hiss just runs straight to the input. Another solution was needed.
Solution 2: Ground loop isolator. Designed to fit onto an RCA cable, connect this little barrel-shaped device between your amp and your audio input.
I won't even try to explain how this works, because I don't understand it. Ground loop isolators are commonly used in car stereos, where power hum is a big hurdle, but works alright at home too. It's not a perfect fix, as (depending on the model you buy) it may muffle and degrade the sound a bit. It does get rid of the rather maddening hiss from the amp though, and saves you from losing your cool when practicing, which is more important than anything else. And it's cheap; I got mine, a no-name one, for £3.50 off ebay.co.uk. If you want to ask me anything, either comment on this entry, or find my email address here. |
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| the whirl of the strom |
[Jun. 28th, 2007|08:36 am] |
Joyful were we, and soon it turned to weeping;
For out of the new land a whirlwind rose,
And smote upon the fore part of the ship.
Three times it made her whirl with all the waters,
At the fourth time it made the stern uplift,
And the prow downward go, as pleased Another,
Until the sea above us closed again.
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